My recent Maui trip

★★★★★ I come from Bulgaria, where you can visit the highest summit on the Balkan Peninsula. Well, Haleakala is a few meters higher and the drive from 0 (see level) to 3000 meters (10 000 feet) is quite the experience. The sights are beautiful as you drive up and it's so easy to get distracted by the view. Yet the road is narrow and if you're not careful... brrr.

They say watching the sunrise from the top is an out-of-this-world experience and I can see how it could be true. Just be prepared to leave early and be *extra* careful when you drive up during the night. Also bring warm clothes. It was coldish during the day, I can imaging how it is during the night.

On a clear day you can see a bunch of the other Hawaii islands, in fact more islands can be seen from here than from anywhere else. On the picture you can see the other Maui summit and behind it - another island, probably Molokai.

★★★★★ We went to 4 beaches in Kihei, South Maui - the one that's next to the Maui Prince, "The Big Beach" and another one, forgot the name, but the Keawakapu is the one we liked best.

The photo above is not a postcard, I took it, as you can see, not too crowded. The photo is taken in the evening and I waited a while to have the beach empty, because people were strolling by. The beach is not usually that deserted, but with a little luck you may be one of the few people on it.

Here's a photo of me bathing with the kidos.

★★★★★ I picked up this book in the library, don't know why I preferred this one to the others (price wasn't a factor), but I didn't regret.

You don't need other maps or driving directions, when you have the book.

All in all, great book about Maui, and now that I checked the website, I know why. It's published by a Hawaii publisher that has published a total of 4 books. Only 4. That explains why you can tell by reading the book, that the author(s?) have taken an extra care to ship a high quality product. Also the book seems to be frequently updated, already at 4th edition.

The only problem with the book is that it's too popular. In Costco (next to the Maui airport), gas stations and groceries - the *only* book I saw about Maui was this one. Of course souvenir shops and bookstores are a different story. The result? If the book says that a beach is not crowded, that may not be true, because a lot of people read the same book 🙂